Supernatural: A Most Holy Man

Who done it, who stole it, who is willing to buy it and who is willing to kill for it.

While Castiel is in Syria trying to track down some the items needed for the big spell, Sam and Dean tr to search for the blood of a most holy man. Sam assumes this must mean the blood of a saint and looks in the one place where you can find such an item – the internet. After finding an auction site where most of the items seem to be fake, he does see one dealer that appears to be the real deal: Margaret Astor. After setting up a meeting, the Winchesters meet her in San Francisco attempt to arrange a deal. Margaret tells them that she does not have the blood of a saint but a man named Richard Greenstreet may have exactly what they are looking for in Seattle. After getting his contact information, the boys meet Richard who quickly snuffs them out for not being who they said they were. Luckily for them, Greenstreet is willing to make a deal. If they can procure the skull of St. Peter, he will give them the blood of a saint. This latest development leads the, to the Patricia hotel where they find the body of the man who stole the skull but just as Sam discovers a clue, he is knocked unconscious. Even with the police called to the hotel, the boys make it out alive but then things go from terrible to dreadful when the Italian mob is waiting for them at the impala and they want to take a ride. It's then that they are introduced to mob boss Scarpatti who offers them a deal they can't refuse: get him the skull and get paid or die. What seemed like a simple task has now become an entangled web of murder, deceit and lies with the Winchesters caught at the very centre of it all.

What seemed like simple episode of finding the blood of a holy man turned out to be a story full of twists and turns in Supernatural's latest. While the overall arc of season thirteen has been quite linear, one off episodes like A Most Holy Man begin only scratch the surface of what an audience may need from a whodunnit. Where the episode lacks is in establishing any of the characters beyond an introduction and making them a believable threat to Sam or Dean. Margaret Astor was attracted to Sam but that never came to anything besides more attraction when she saw him again. Scarpatti and Greenstreet offer the Winchesters deals but no consequences when the deals fall through and Sam is making a bid for the skull himself using the money from Father Lucca Camilleri. On the topic of Father Camilleri, his character transitioned from stalker willing to take action to passive man of the cloth after being knocked out. Though it all came together very conveniently (too much so) that he was the most holy man, I almost would have preferred if he managed to fool the Winchesters and double cross them somehow. It was that missed opportunity and the big shootout being started because Greenstreet offered Cromarty money to betray Astor. The scene was entirely too dramatic and could have been lightened up if Scarpatti had shouted a similar deal to the Winchesters over the gunfire as his goons were being gunned down.

Though A Most Holy Man set up the mystery as well as it could, the episode took itself far too seriously. A Most Holy Man had Sam wanting to do the right thing and get a win but dragged the tone of the story down to a more somber note. The problem was that the tone and Sam's story didn't fit with the fantastical characters of the seductive relic dealer in Astor, the ill mannered Greenstreet, or the faithful mafia boss in Scarpatti. Supernatural needed to lean into that tone more and used that to have more add more fun and light-hearted moments. Dean's moment of what he would do it someone stole the impala was the perfect example. In his rage fugue state, he told Sam he would murder everyone. It would have been a great counter to Sam's melancholy if he was surrounded by cunning, intrigue and comedy.

A Most Holy Man had several things going for it with interesting new characters and a solid mystery that tied back into the overall story for season thirteen. Had it not taken itself so seriously and veered towards a lighter tone, it could have been a solid episode. If anyone else found A Most Holy Man lacking in humor, that not likely to happen when Supernatural returns on March 29th when the Winchesters get animated in the world of Scooby Doo with Scoobynatural.